John Oliver's Representative Climate Debate

     If you missed it, John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight, discussed the so-called debate about Climate Change a few months back. What followed was absolutely brilliant! Watch the video below and please share.

     Have a great weekend!

Quotes

Anonymous Comment

     I received an email that notified me that I had a new comment on the post Fox News: Missing the Point Again. The comments on this blog come in a trickle, so new comments get me all excited. (After all, this blog is here so we all can have a conversation about Climate Change and the role the human race has on it.) But, I suppose "Anonymous" had second thoughts on publishing his comment because when I went to reply, the comment was not published on my site. (Based on the content, I don't blame him or her.) Luckily, the comment is emailed to me even if the author deletes it after it is posted. Since the author was...

Climate Reality Monday - Mark Ruffalo

     The Hulk has weighed in. And if I were you, I would listen.

     Actor Mark Ruffalo sat down with the Climate Reality Project for a One-On-One interview on Climate Change and how it is our responsibility to act. You don't have to be Bruce Banner too see that humans have disrupted the normal Climate Cycle and are wreaking havoc on the planet.

     Watch the video and explore the Climate Reality Project site to learn about their mission and how you can join. Climate Change is real, it is happening, and we are major contributors.

Thanks Bob Vila

     You can always rely on Bob Vila. I just read an article from the House Guru that explains why you don't have to rake leaves every Fall. You can turn them into nutrient rich compost, mulch them with a mower and return the nutrients they contain right back to the soil. Its cheaper, its better for the environment and its easier on your back.

     Back in 2013, I did a project with the Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy. Our goal was to get people to keep their leaves out of their driveway, off the sidewalks so they did not blow into the streets. Leaves contain nitrogen and phosphorus, which are released into open waters when they wash into storm drains or blow down the street into the rivers. Many people were just blowing their leaves into the street and forgetting about them. That can have a not-so-good effect on water quality, where the water column gets overloaded with nutrients it can't handle.

     One of our points to local residents in Annapolis, MD was that they could bag their leaves, compost them and put them back into their gardens as fertilizer. Or they could mulch them with the lawnmower, putting those vital nutrients back into the lawn. Before humans came around, trees dropped their leaves and the ground used those nutrients. Then, humans started worrying about how ugly their lawns looked with all those leaves strewn about. In order to show more green grass, we disrupted the cycle.

     Now, I'm not saying leaves are the reason water quality is so bad in many places, like where I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay. But, decomposing leaves certainly contribute. Humans have cleared forests and built homes, cut roads through the woods, eliminated riparian buffers along streams and rivers, which has allowed the leaves to get blown out of the forest. Instead of putting those vital minerals and elements back in the ground for the trees and animals and bacteria and other decomposers to break them down, they blow into the water.

     You can help by reusing your leaves on your lawn, and save some money on fertilizer and broken rake handles. Who would have thought that not raking leaves actually helps your lawn look great? Your back will thank you.

     To learn more about how human activities affect water quality, or to learn how to become a Master Watershed Steward, visit www.aawsa.org